| 15. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive vayyomer {וַיֹּאמֶר | wayyōʾmer} ‘and he said’, marking direct speech that introduces the question. The interrogative pronoun mah {מָה | māh} ‘what’ heads a verbal clause with the perfect verb ra’u {רָאוּ | rāʾû} ‘they saw’ and the locative construct beveitekha {בְּבֵיתֶךָ | bə-ḇê-ṯe-kha} ‘in your house.’ A second vayyomer signals the shift to Hezekiah’s reply, where the construct chain kol ’ăšer beveiti ra’u {כָּל־אֲשֶׁר בְּבֵיטִי רָאוּ | kol ʾăšer bə-ḇê-ṯî rāʾû} ‘all that they saw in my house’ functions as a nominal clause emphasizing totality. The negative particle lo {לֹא | lōʾ} with the perfect hayah {הָיָה | hāyâ} ‘there was not’ asserts absence, leading into the relative clause ’ăšer lo hir’item {אֲשֶׁר לֹא הִרְאִיתֶם | ʾăšer lōʾ hirʾîtem} ‘that you did not show’, with the domain specified by the prepositional phrase be’otzrotay {בְּאֹצְרוֹתָי | bə-’ōṣrō-tāy} ‘in my treasuries.’ The alternation of questioning and emphatic negation underscores both the envoys’ comprehensive inspection and Hezekiah’s claim of full disclosure. |